Owens Corning

The two SolarWall® systems at Owens Corning are designed to bring in 120,000 cfm of make-up air. The annual renewable energy production is estimated to be 3600 MWh which translates into savings of approximately $180,000 each year (direct energy savings + cost avoidances) with an annual CO2 displacement of almost 650 tons. This means that over the 30-year life of the system and the building, Owens Corning will have displaced close to 20,000 tons of CO2 as a result of this one initiative, in addition to the sizable energy savings.

Background

Owens Corning is a Fortune 500 company and a leading
global producer of building materials and glass fiber reinforcements.
Sustainable operations and environmental
stewardship are both priorities for Owens Corning, and
the SolarWall®
air heating technology offered an ideal
renewable energy solution.

Solution

Conserval Engineering worked closely with Owens Corning
to deliver a turnkey solution to alleviate the problem of
negative pressure within their building (due to high exhaust
from their manufacturing processes). Since the
SolarWall®
technology heats ventilation air, the ability to
increase the ventilation rate to reduce negative pressure
is achieved at a substantially reduced cost versus adding
gas-fired air make-up units. The SolarWall®
solution also
improves temperature consistency by reducing cold drafts
and displaces a considerable amount of greenhouse gas
emissions. Furthermore, it provides a significantly improved
level of indoor air quality, which was a priority for
Owens Corning in maintaining the safety and sustainability
of its manufacturing facilities.
The first SolarWall®
system was installed in 2008 and
spanned an impressive 11,100 ft2
(1,030 m2
) on the facility's
west wall. The system was designed with a grey canopy
along the top to match the rest of the walls, maintaining
an attractive, uniform appearance.
As part of the overall system design, Conserval supplied
additional SolarWall®
fans and modified existing ductwork
inside the plant to gain further destratification savings.
In the winter of 2010 a second SolarWall®
system, measuring
approximately 7,000 ft2
(700 m2
) was installed on an
adjoining east wall.